There are several reasons that ink-jet printing has become a popular way of recording images on various media surfaces, particularly paper and photo media substrates. Some of these reasons include low printer noise, capability of high-speed recording, and capability of multi-color recording. Additionally, these advantages can be obtained at a relatively low price to consumers. With respect to ink-jet ink chemistry, the majority of commercial ink-jet inks are water-based. Thus, their constituents are generally water-soluble, as in the case with many dyes, or water dispersible, as in the case with pigments. Furthermore, ink-jet inks have low viscosity to accommodate high frequency jetting and firing chamber refill processes common to ink-jet architecture.
With specific reference to pigment-based ink-jet inks, latex-containing ink-jet inks, and/or polymer-encapsulated pigments, there are special difficulties associated with maintaining appropriate dispersion stability, especially when the ink is to be jetted from a thermal ink-jet architecture. For example, polymer encapsulated pigments of various kinds are known, e.g., SUNSPERSE and FLEXIVERSE polymer coated pigments from Sun Chemical Corporation are representative. While certain encapsulation methods and chemistries are known, many polymer-encapsulated pigments are not very compatible with thermal ink-jet architecture. For example, these polymer surfaces can tend to cause pigments to either agglomerate under the high thermal shear conditions of the architecture firing chamber, causing nozzle and ink channel blockages, or have excessive glass transition temperatures that prevent room temperature print film formation. Thus, incorporation of such polymer encapsulated pigments within thermal inkjet inks either results in pen reliability reduction or poor print durability colorant performance, respectively. As a result, it would be desirable to provide methods, polymer-encapsulated pigments, inks, ink sets, and systems that provide improved polymer-encapsulated pigment colorants, which can be more readily adapted for use in thermal ink-jet architecture, among other applications.